OnePlus 8 handsets are gaining access to a new Camera update via Android 11 Beta 1, delivering no fewer than three big new features. The update, taking the Camera software to version 5.4.10, kicks things off with a new Quick Share menu. That’s centered around a new ring-like sharing UI that, at a tap, lets users share a photo immediately after taking it.
For the time being, Quick Share reportedly doesn’t allow users to see the photo until after it’s shared But that could be added in before finalization.
It’s unclear whether the ring of Quick-Share apps showing up now will be customizable either. It seems unlikely OnePlus would lock users into a preset list of apps though. Especially since the feature is intended to make snapping and then sharing a picture quick and painless — eliminating all but a couple of taps. That should prove useful for those situations when a perfect shot isn’t really needed but it does need to be shared fast.
Next, OnePlus has tucked in a new interface for zooming in on photos. There don’t appear to be any changes to the quality of zoomed photos here. At least not yet. But the feature effectively allows users to rapidly zoom in or out before taking a shot with just a single thumb or finger. The interaction has been described as “joystick”-like, similar to Samsung flagships’ zoom features.
The third new feature is hidden under the hood. So it probably won’t appear in a more useful fashion until at least the second public beta for Android 11.
Namely, that’s a new set of photo filters. They’re presently unnamed but hints are presented in the underlying code. That reveals what are presumably temporary labels. Dubbed “FaceApp, O1, BeautyPlus, Black & White (New), Clare, Juno, Valencia, Snapseed, Sweetsnap, and Youcam.”
Other features are stacked atop those main camera updates for Android 11 too
On top of the primary camera changes noted in the first beta for Android 11 on OnePlus devices, there are at least two other noteworthy additions. The first is fairly straightforward, with “evidence” suggesting that OnePlus will add in a Document Scanner.
That says effectively everything that needs to be. Presumably, it will be a shooting mode that can parse out documents, similar to a printer-based scanner. But it isn’t immediately apparent why OnePlus didn’t add a dedicated document mode sooner. Most other OEMs have already offered a document-specific mode for quite some time.
Secondary to that, OnePlus appears to be working on adding a new “Burst” mode to its phones with Android 11. That won’t be applicable to standard photos either. Instead, OnePlus took a page of out Google’s Pixel book and is looking to add a “Burst Video” feature. That will, as its name implies, allow users to snap multiple short-form videos in rapid succession. Similar to how burst photos are taken.
OnePlus Android 11 Beta 1 is well underway
As has almost always been the case, OnePlus is among the first third-party OEMs to deliver this Android beta to its users. That doesn’t’ mean that just anybody should download the new flavor of Android right away. The bugs and issues of previous, developer-focused previews should be mostly solved. But this is a beta and it doesn’t have nearly the same support as a full version of Android does.